A power outage affecting more than 1,700 BC Hydro customers on the Saanich Peninsula delayed unloading of a ferry at the Swartz Bay terminal Wednesday.
BC Hydro reported an outage affecting homes and businesses east of Saanich Road, south of Swartz Bay and north of Forest Park Drive.
BC Ferries tweeted shortly before noon that the Coastal Celebration’s 10 a.m. sailing from Tsawwassen to Swartz Bay would delay unloading due to the power outage, because ramps could not be operated.
BC Ferries confirmed at 1 p.m. that power was back on at the terminal and that the delay would cause the Coastal Celebration to operate 60 minutes behind schedule.
Power was also restored to the surrounding area of North Saanich and Sidney before 1 p.m., according to BC Hydro.
The cause of the outage was a tree that fell across power lines.
Passenger Lloyd Mildon told CHEK News he had just bought his ticket and gotten into the vehicle line-up when the power went out.
He said all of the cash registers were affected by the outage, so cashiers could not sell tickets for ferries, and that cars were backing up at the booths.
BC Ferries is already a vessel down today after the Spirit of Vancouver Island experienced a mechanical issue and needed to be taken out of service for maintenance.
This is a developing story. More to come…
CHEK News
